Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Oil Can and Bobby V

Oil Can Boyd is worried that black kids aren't into baseball anymore. What does he do about it? For starters, he calls up old colleagues and persuades them to participate in his consciousness-raising barnstorming tour. He has another idea too that, according to the article, is "a passion for The Can":

Ultimately, Boyd said that he's got a plan for an inner-city pro baseball league. It would be located, to start, in Southern cities and would be for African-American players who were unable to crack a Major League roster.

This strikes me as a good idea that, if it were serious about the relative dearth of black American ballplayers these days, Major League Baseball would get behind in some form. But even if it never happens, the fact remains that Oil Can sees a problem and is out there doing something about it, so good for him.

Valentine said its up to the people who run Japanese baseball to finda solution. "This isn't about me," said Valentine. "I'm 57 years old, Idon't need the publicity. This is about the future of Japanese baseball."